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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209228">Memories From The Past.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpsapphics/pseuds/httpsapphics'>httpsapphics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wentworth (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, F/F, One Shot, Slow Build, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:27:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,594</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26209228</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/httpsapphics/pseuds/httpsapphics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on Wentworth 8x05. After her meltdown, she attempted to make it up to Vera. But that wasn’t all she needed to tell Vera. Unexpected surprises.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Vera Bennett/Ann Reynolds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Memories From The Past.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>TRIGGER WARNING: </p><p>Mentions of terrorism/terrorist attack, but not in full detail.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was time to make it up.</p><p>Flashback: </p><p>The memory of her daughter, her Charlotte, lying dead in the misty smoke had remained in the back of her mind, especially so swiftly after Judy Bryant’s conviction of terrorism. Vera entered Ann’s office and confronted her about her attitude towards Judy Bryant. </p><p>“That behaviour is out of order, Ann,” Vera admitted, in a kind manner but with a hint of anger and disappointment. “Exclude her privileges, her phone calls... but do not EVER treat an inmate like that again.” The tone of disappointment from Vera’s voice was becoming more evident but Ann was blind to notice. Her only concern was Judy Bryant’s conviction.</p><p>Ann sighed, exhausted from hearing Vera confront her about certain inmates and officers. She could felt her chest tighten and her fists clench as she sensed the emotional burst she would take out on Vera. “Have you read her file?” Ann asked, genuinely asking Vera if she had seen Judy’s file full of her convictions. </p><p>Vera replies, almost in a sigh because Ann should know by now that Vera reads every inmate’s files. “Yes, I’ve read it but that doesn’t give you the right t—”</p><p>She got interrupted. Vera was shaken by this sudden emotional burst. </p><p>“Have...you read it?” Ann repeats herself, her tone of voice loud yet hoarse, now slapping the palm of her hand on the table beside her. Her dark blonde hair now partly covering half of her face as the tears filled her eyes with anger and anguish. Painting heavily as the silence in the room became paper thin, almost like you could hear a pin drop. Shifting her hands to move the hair in front of her face, Ann had attempted to compose herself. “Vera...have...you...read her file?” Repeating herself once again, she now was speaking in a hyperventilating manner, pressing her index finger on Judy’s file as she pended Vera’s response.</p><p>“Yes, I’ve read it…”, Vera answers back, pausing for a few seconds as her vibrant blue eyes remained contacted with Ann. “Ann, are you okay?” Concerned for her old friend, it was evident that Ann was hiding a big secret that was the sole reason of this emotional outburst. </p><p>Ann gulps vigorously as she grits her teeth and squints her vision to try and think of some explanation or at least open up to her old friend. “Judy Bryant is a terrorist. There’s nothing more to say!” Ann spits out, grinning in an emotional state, also speaking between a disgusted scoff. </p><p>Vera kept her eyesight locked on Ann and then began to walk out. The door shutting and ending with a click, as Vera released the door handle from her grip.</p><p>Ann placed two fingers on the base of her forehead and dropped her body on the office chair that was standing beside her. Exhaling loudly, she just felt disappointed in herself over how she treated Vera and her emotional outburst. </p><p>Present Day:</p><p>Ann had been clinging onto her necklace all day, more especially since her argument with Vera and she kept twiddling with it on the way to Vera’s office. Building up the courage to walk towards Vera, Ann stood beside the doorway and then changed the subject completely to the opposite of the main purpose. “Do you want to go out for a drink tonight? Today was a cluster-fuck,” Ann chuckled nervously, pending for Vera’s answer as she still continuously twiddled with her necklace.</p><p>Vera turned around, now facing Ann, and had sadly frowned at Ann’s request to go out on a night out. “I have to get Grace home,” Feeling guilty for her honest response, she just wasn’t impressed with how Ann spoke to her earlier. </p><p>Ann nodded and cleared the back of her throat as her nerves was getting the best of her. “Vera... please don’t be disappointed in me.” Ann pleaded, her voice igniting to sound hoarse and melancholic, her eyes puddling with tears.</p><p>Vera sighed as she placed down the neatly ordered paperwork on her table and turned around to face Ann, preparing to speak, she exhaled through her nose and shook her head. “You don’t treat the women that way...it goes against everything I believe in,” Vera admitted, seeing how Ann was thoroughly paying attention to her every word.</p><p>Ann nodded her head, curving a meaningful and productive smile upon her thin rosy tinted lips. “I understand...I’m sorry!” Ann admitted genuinely, still keeping her thumb stroking the outline of her ‘C’ necklace. Preparing to leave Vera’s office, she finally buckled up the courage to tell Vera everything that was going on. “Vera...I have to tell you something. I need to talk about it.” She whispered, feeling a lump form at the back of her oesophagus. </p><p>Vera began to walk closer to Ann but instead to sit on the edge of her desk as she witnessed Ann anxiously walking up and down the office doorway. </p><p>Inhaling deeply, Ann then entered the room properly and sat down to face Vera, tightening the grip around the necklace. “My Charlotte…” Smiling gently at the sound of her name, she then began to feel the salty tears burn down her face. “...She was killed in a terroist attack. I was there...not even less than a minute after the bomb went off and I—” Pausing and interrupting her own sentence, she then dropped her head so that Vera wasn’t witnessing her vulnerable side. “I was looking around for her, no one had seen her...until I did. I...I saw her body. Her little body,” A whispered tone as her voice was reverberating fragmented. The anguish she was feeling was becoming more triggering to Ann as she had to make herself go back to the time where she was the most heartbroken. “It was chaos and I just held her...I just held her like I did when she was born.” Ann sniffles, using the tip of her index finger to wipe away the burning tears that was trickling down her face. “So...I have some hang-ups about terrorists like JUDY BRYANT.” Her teeth gritted together as she spoke Judy’s name.</p><p>Vera was concentrating rightly to every word Ann was speaking and all she could think of was if anything bad happened to Grace, there was no way that she would ever be as strong and sturdy as Ann. She felt guilty how she never knew, upset that Ann never confessed this to her, especially due to being friends for such a long time. “I...I had no idea, Ann. I’m so sorry!” Shaking her head in an emotional manner and squinting her vision, Vera just couldn’t apologize enough. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Leaning forward to get closer to Ann, Vera placed her hand on Ann’s thigh and comforted her.</p><p>Ann looked down on Vera’s hand on her thigh and listened to her question, unable to properly process why she never told Vera. “I’m...I’m dealing with it...at least I’m trying to deal with it but every time I hear about an attack...I go back there. Every...time. I just didn’t know how to tell you!” Her voice cracked as more tears were marking their territory on Ann’s face. “But every...time there’s another attack, I’m right back there and it takes me so long to...get out of it.” Ann confesses, the tears still burning into the corneas of her eyes. Keeping her head low, she couldn’t look Vera in the eye – she just couldn’t. </p><p>Vera now kicks her feet and begins to stand straight, her pleading eyes in contact with Ann. Sighing melancholically, she compressed her lips together and forcefully curved a smile upon her plump lips to give a comforting manner to the grieving mother. </p><p>Ann now lifts her body off the chair, sniffing and using the tip of her index finger to wipe away the tear that trickled down her cheek. “So now you know!” She admitted, her voice now disintegrating into a depressive tone, holding back on the uncontrollable tears that she may emit.</p><p>Vera pushed herself closer to Ann and then pulled her in to hug her. Emotions were a whirlwind of activity but Vera was too caring to everybody, especially to Ann who she had known since college. Placing her hand on the back of Ann’s head, she stroked it delicately and then pulled away – just slightly, still in the grip – and kissed Ann’s cheek, exhaling through her nose as she did so.</p><p>Ann tightened her grip with Vera’s dominant yet lenient hug and bawled into Vera’s neck – feeling the grip loosen as Vera pulls away, she feels her lips on her cheek in a friendly manner. Ann panics and smiles gratefully but the next thing led to something that wasn’t planned or expected.</p><p>Placing her lips, swiftly, against Vera’s own, Ann closed her tear filled eyes and deepened the kiss with more passion as she felt safe within this interaction. Exhaling through her nose, she began to move her hands away from Vera’s shoulders and smoothly stroked them towards Vera’s face. Now cupping Vera’s face, she put more emotion and passion into the kiss and their tongues danced together. Mentally, Ann was shocked that Vera even accepted the kiss and was enjoying it as much as herself. Now running her fingers through the lose strands of Vera’s ponytail, she begins to pull the hairband out of her hair and continued to run her fingers through her brunette wavey curls. </p><p>Vera panicked with a shocking attitude but she didn’t hesitate or pull back. In fact, she was feeling safe and comforted by Ann’s sudden passionate encounter. Feeling Ann’s warm hands move from her shoulders to her face, Vera exhaled between the kiss and emitted a moan – her heart vigorously thumping behind the barrier of her ribcage, causing each kiss to be more passionate as time dragged by. Now placing her own hands on Ann’s, which was placed on her own face, she then began to push her body closer, stroking Ann’s fingers with her thumb.</p><p>As they both now pulled away from this unexpected, surprising and passionate kiss, their hands were still touching – Ann moved her hands back up to cup Vera’s face, stroking the surface of Vera’s cheekbones as silence started to walk between the two females – speechless as how to react. </p><p>Ann gulped aggressively as she still had the tears resting in the corneas of her eyes, but they were drying themselves during the mouth to mouth encounter. “I...I’m sorry, Vera,” She admitted, genuinely upset and in a whirlwind of emotions, she felt bad how this kiss came unexpected to Vera – unexpected, even to herself. “I...I didn’t mean to!” Her tone of voice began to change, once again she was making herself more erratic with the guilt she felt over the kiss and for the story she just had to reveal. </p><p>Vera kept quiet, using the tip of her tongue to moisten her plump, rosy tinted lips and fluttered her charcoal mascara smothered lashes and shook her head to signal Ann that she had nothing to apologize for. “Ann...you—” Inhaling expressively, Vera wanted to genuinely tell Ann the truth and that she needn’t worry. “...You have nothing to apologize for.” Vera now nervously swallows as she curves a reassuring but sincere smile upon her lips, chuckling as her nerves suddenly disappeared after the kiss. “If you want...we can go out to get that drink tonight.” Her vibrant blue eyes glimmered as they stared right at Ann’s, standing opposite her. </p><p>“I’d like that!” Ann confessed, smiling back, in the same reassuring and sincere way, facing Vera. As her vision moved just slightly away from Vera’s eyes, Ann was now staring at her lips – craving more. “Thank you, Vera...it felt good to...tell someone about it.” </p><p>Vera smiled back, signalling her gratitude and appreciation for Ann, especially after telling a story as emotional as that. Pulling Ann in for just one more hug – more like a goodbye hug and they’ll see each other later, Vera kissed Ann’s cheek again and swiftly pulled away, their hands now placed besides their own bodies.</p><p>As the door knocked, they both looked at the door and they sighed heavily at the sound of Jake’s voice, especially during this heartfelt moment. “Is Ann there with you? The minister’s on the phone!” Jake calls out, pending a response from Ann.</p><p>“I’ll be right there,” She speaks, her voice still slightly broken from the crying she did earlier.</p><p>Jake called back. “Okay.” And then his footsteps were becoming muffled, signalling that he had now left from outside Vera’s office door. </p><p>Vera kept her smile curved upon her lips and began to speak, in a hushed tone. “If you ever need anyone to talk to, Ann...I’m here!” She confessed, genuinely. </p><p>“Thank you, Vera. It feels better knowing I have someone to tell.” Ann whispered, a tone of gratitude and sincerity in her voice as she smiled back. “Thank you, Vera.” Gulping sharply, she felt the lump at the back of her oesophagus losen its tight grip and was now capable to breathe without any feeling of anxiety. “You know...I miss our heart to hearts. I miss the times after college where we’d both come in and just drink ourselves off to sleep while cuddling each other. I...I really missed that. And you!” Ann confessed, more heartfelt truths were being exposed during and after Ann’s emotional outburst. She reached her hand towards Vera’s face, stroking her cheek with the back of her thumb, sighing melancholically as she sensed she had ruined their relationship. “I...I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—” Ann finished her sentence briefly, swiftly moving her hand away from Vera, from embarrassment, and turned her back on Vera.</p><p>UNTIL.</p><p>Vera went to grab Ann’s hand just before she managed to reach for the door. Pausing what she was originally planning on saying. The silence, again, became quiet and awkward. She drops her head, then sighs and tries to build the courage to come out about her feelings. “I felt the same, Ann. At college, I was finding myself and with my mother...you just knew what she was like—” Huffing in an angry tone, full of self-hatred, she then lifted her cranium up to face Vera. “I never knew how to tell you. I thought I was making clear enough signs... obviously I wasn’t!” She chuckles nervously, feeling her voice break due to the pressure she felt to coming out. “Getting back in contact with you...it made me realise how I felt. It reminded me of who I am.” Smiling through these words, as she spoke more and more about her sexuality, there was tones of pride within the words. </p><p>Ann kept her blurred vision on Vera, who was just slightly smaller than her, and chuckled back as she smiled back at the comfortability that Vera was feeling. “I know...I know,” She whispers, still keeping her vision with Vera, she then leaned forward towards Vera’s ear. “How about a date? Just me and you. Take each day as it goes!” She suggested, somehow feeling guilty over how these lost feelings connected – from her trauma – and pended for Vera’s response. </p><p>With that wide smile Vera does, she nodded her head and chuckled her answer, softly. “Yeah...sure,” She whispers, still feeling nervous but more at ease of her sexuality. “I’ll see you tonight.”</p><p>Just as Ann was about to walk out, she turned around and smiled.</p>
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